Today the world is remembering the terrible events of thirteen years ago, when one of the world’s worst terrorist attacks destroyed the World Trade Center in New York. But for some people, the memories don’t just surface every year; they have to live with daily reminders that leave them living in a half-life of trauma and fear.
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Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have made an astonishing breakthrough: they believe that they now have the ability to erase feelings of fear or anxiety.The researchers discovered which brain circuits attach emotions to memories but, more importantly, they worked out how to reverse this link.
Traumatic experiences can have a profound and negative effect that leaves people emotionally scarred for life, but neuroscientists believe that it may now be possible for them to erase residual feelings of trauma. This could benefit those suffering from depression or post-traumatic stress disorder and remove the need for strong medication.
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Israeli researchers think that ignoring trauma may be healthier than pouring out your heart to a psychiatrist (and they have a lot of stress over there, so they should know). “The findings of this study suggest that a repressive coping style may promote adjustment to traumatic stress, both in the short and longer term,” says Tel Aviv social worker Karni Ginzburg.
Ginzburg and colleagues studied 116 patients who were hospitalized for heart attacks and suffering anxiety about their brush with death. They compared them to 72 people who had not suffered heart attacks. He chose heart attack victims because, “The damage to the heart, with its symbolic meaning as the essence of the human being, may shatter the patient’s sense of wholeness and safety,” Ginzburg says.
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